अनुक्रमणिकाध्यायः (Anukramaṇikā Adhyāya) — Invocation, Narrator Frame, and Textual Scope
अद्भुतं चाप्यचिन्त्यं च सर्वत्र समतां गतम् | अव्यक्तं कारण सूक्ष्मं यत्तत् सदसदात्मकम्,वह ब्रह्म अदभुत, अचिन्त्य, सर्वत्र समानरूपसे व्याप्त, अव्यक्त, सूक्ष्म, कारणस्वरूप एवं अनिर्वचनीय है और जो कुछ सत्-असत्रूपमें उपलब्ध होता है, सब वही है
adbhutaṃ cāpy acintyaṃ ca sarvatra samatāṃ gatam | avyaktaṃ kāraṇa-sūkṣmaṃ yat tat sad-asad-ātmakam ||
Esa Realidad suprema es maravillosa e inaccesible al pensamiento; lo penetra todo con una presencia igual. Inmanifestada y sutil como fundamento causal, se dice que abarca tanto el ser como el no-ser; de modo que cuanto se encuentra como existente o inexistente no es, en verdad, sino Ese Brahman.
The verse teaches that Brahman, the ultimate reality, is inconceivable yet all-pervading and equal in all; it is the unmanifest, subtle causal ground, and whatever appears as 'being' or 'non-being' is ultimately rooted in and not separate from that Brahman.
In the opening of the Ādi Parva, the text presents a philosophical characterization of the supreme principle (Brahman) as part of the work’s broader framing—establishing an ultimate ground of reality before moving into genealogies and the epic’s historical narrative.